I'll agree with ML that writers aren't completely unaware of what other trends are going on, when deciding what to write. And awards can be a nice little incentive, or get someone thinking "hey, what if?". So there's definitely that aspect to it.
As an example: I wrote "My Interview with Superman" because (originally) I wanted to create something to submit to the Merriweathers. That got me started thinking about writing something, and influenced my writing style. Also, there have been several alt-Clark stories recently (the ones by Nan & Krissie spring to mind, but there are others), and it got me to wondering if I could find any new way to approach the idea. No H.G.Wells, no immediate hostility to overcome... and I had an image in my head of alt-Lois watching alt-Clark from the crowd, analyzing him before approaching him. Err, I've wandered from the topic
Anyway, yes, there is some "leadership" effect to the Kerths, but we've chosen to downplay it rather than try to exploit it to select preferred types of stories. What a can of worms that would be... we don't wanna go there.
PJ
